The drug catapult is reportedly capable of launching 4.4. pounds of marijuana at a time. YouTube

January 28, 2011

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The video: A group of Mexican drug smugglers won points for originality last Friday night by attempting to catapult large packages of marijuana over the Arizona border. U.S. National Guard troops stationed in the desolate area, 80 miles from Tucson, noticed the unusual scene on a surveillance video and alerted nearby Mexican authorities with the help of Border Patrol agents. When the local police arrived, they discovered a 9-foot catapult about 20 yards from the border fence. The crude device, which was seized along with an SUV and 45 pounds of pot, was capable of flinging up to 4.5 pounds of drugs at a time. But while Mexico could claim a successful narcotics bust, the smugglers escaped before the police arrived. The reaction: "Before today it seemed the use of medieval weaponry in drug deals had gone the way of the knife, the chainsaw, and the cheesy mustache," says Eli Rosenberg at The Atlantic. Perhaps these particular drug runners have a "keen sense of classical history," or "nostalgia for the days of princesses and castles." This stunt "takes the cake for brazenness," says Kevin at Wizbang, but not ingenuity: "If the criminals had gone to college," they would have used water-balloon launchers instead, which "would have done the job in a much more discreet fashion." Watch drug dealers catapult their wares into America: